Page 50 of Privilege

“Fuck,” he muttered. Then, he shot her a look, asking simply, “You good, or …?”

“Uh …”

Renzo stared blankly at her. “I don’t have time for this right now. I have to go. Are you good to drive home, or what?”

Wow.

Something cold washed over Lucia as she peered out the back windows. Right then, it was easier to stare at literally anything else but him. Last night, he was all too willing to do whatever the fuck he wanted with her, but right then, he seemed like he didn’t want anything to do with her at all.

Lucia shrugged, and finally nodded. “Yeah, I’m good to drive home.”

Why wouldn’t she be?

Renzo gave her another look, but it wasn’t lost on Lucia how he didn’t stare at her the same way he did the night before. There was no want … no curiosity. Nothing that made her feel those raging butterflies, or a heat that made her feel like she was about to burn up right where she sat. Wasn’t that just a damn shame, too? She thought so—she much preferred the Renzo from the night before to the one sitting across from her now.

This Renzo was the same one who seemed to make a game out of seeing just how much of an asshole he could be to her before she said enough was enough. Lucia had no interest in going back to that.

None at all.

“All right,” Renzo grunted, shoving his phone back into his pocket. Seemingly oblivious to her confusion and hurt, he made quick work of lacing up his boots. He was already pushing the front seat forward and reaching for the handle on the door when he spoke to her again, saying only, “See you around, Lucia.”

She blinked, not sure how to respond or if she even wanted to, and then he was gone before she could decide what to say. Out of the car, and slamming the door behind him without a look back at her. She caught sight of his back as he headed down the street, but just as quickly, he darted into an alleyway, and that was that.

Lucia wasn’t entirely sure how long she sat like that—cold, and staring blankly at the quiet street where the morning light was just beginning to color it with the day. Too long, probably. Her mind ran a million miles a minute as it tried to desperately catch up to what had just happened.

Not just the morning.

The night before.

That man.

Lucia was not the type to make stupid choices. She didn’t do reckless things just because she could, and she would probably get away with it. She had a plan when it came to her life, and she really couldn’t afford for things to get in the way of that, so she tried to always make smart decisions. She was not something to be used, and then discarded whenever someone felt the need to do just that.

And yet, that was exactly how she felt as she sat there alone, tender between her thighs, in an empty backseat while she stared out the window at the street.

Used.

Discarded.

Entirely cold.

It was only the buzzing of her phone somewhere on the floor of the Lexus that reminded Lucia she too had other shit to deal with. She’d been gone all night, and hadn’t even thought once to call her family or let them know she was fine.

That’s not like you at all, her mind taunted.

She found the phone under the passenger seat, and it only took one look at the locked home screen to tell her that she was right. She’d muted the phone the night before, but after her usual alarm went off—silently—the phone automatically unmuted itself.

Fifteen phone calls.

A whole list of texts.

All from her mother and father.

Great.

Lucia took one more minute to gather her thoughts—or try—and then she climbed into the front seat. Better to just move the hell on than to waste more time trying to figure Renzo out. She was convinced that man didn’t want to be figured out, anyway.

At least, not by her.